TOMS RIVER — East side Ortley Beach homeowners who returned en masse Sunday to clear away debris for the first time since superstorm Sandy hit nearly a month ago were served hot chili, thanks in part to the American Red Cross.

Red Cross ERVs — emergency response vehicles — wove in and out of the debris-filled streets, informing those working that free hot meals and other supplies were available.

“Red Cross, we have hot chili, hot coffee, Power Aid, water and blankets,” said Red Cross volunteer Christiana Wise, 50, of Kansas, one of over 3,000 volunteers from across the country, Mexico and Canada mobilized to help with disaster response operations here.

Wise said although the vehicle set off at 9:30 a.m. to make its allotted 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. meal distribution, heavy traffic crossing into the barrier island stalled their arrival until noon.

“We have enough — 400 meals,” she said shortly after 2 p.m. “With it being on the heals on the Thanksgiving holiday, there are a lot of people out here working, so we have a lot of people to serve.”

Among them were sisters Dawn Encardone, 44, of Manchester and Summar Kasar, 40, of Greenbrook, who spent the cold and windy day cleaning out their parents’ 1976 Fielder Ave. home, rebuilt just eight years ago.

“We’re so appreciative of a hot meal,” Encardone said.

“This is my first time here,” Kasar said. “It’s unreal, nothing like you see in the photographs. This whole landscape will be forever changed.”

One block over on the ocean block of Forte Avenue, Maria Robins said all she’s been able to salvage from her family’s collapsed home was her mother’s china.

“We are so grateful for this food,” Robins said. “You can tell the Red Cross really cares. They really do know how to take care of people during a disaster.”

The home, struck from the rear by a neighboring house, ultimately crashed into a house to its west. The front wall was nowhere to be found.

Recovery here, one of the hardest hit areas along the Jersey Shore, was stalled until state officials deemed it safe for vehicle re-entry. That process began on a small scale last week and has now opened to property owners on a schedule being rotated by neighborhood.

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And although recovery here has just begun, the Red Cross-sponsored hot meals ended Sunday afternoon.

While the nonprofit distributed more than 6.4 million meals and snacks since the Oct. 29 devastation, organizers said shelter closings and waning requests for the hot meals led to the decision.

“There were declining numbers for the amount of food we were being asked to provide,” said spokeswoman Vicki Eichstaedt of Michigan, who has been working in the area since Oct. 26. “We are not pulling out of New Jersey and will not stop feeding people.”

Eichstaedt said the hot meals were served in conjunction with the Southern Baptist Convention, which prepared the food for Red Cross distribution. Now, meals could come in the form of nonperishable shelf staples meals, she said.

“If there is an identified need for people to have food, and if people are still suffering immediate disaster-cause needs, we will be there,” Eichstaedt said.

In neighboring Seaside Heights, Karen Beley-Felder of Hillsborough, said the she’s visited a Red Cross ERV during every recovery trip she’s made to the family’s Hancock Avenue home, built by her father Edmund Beley 65 years ago.

“They’ve given us hot food, supplies and coffee,” Beley-Felder said. “It’s hard to work when it’s so cold, but we’ve had the hot meals so that’s been great.”